when the cattle would refuse to drink, thus being off water for 48 

 hours. As this condition occurred in. each lot, it does not affect 

 the comparative results, but does materially reduce the rate of gain 

 for the entire period and has unfavorable influence upon profits. 

 The low rate of gain in Lot I during the last two weeks of the ex- 

 periment was due to the length of time they were kept upon the 

 same ration without any improvement in it. From this and other 

 experiments, it seems necessary that rations be made concentrated 

 toward the close of the finishing period in order that cattle may 

 continue to make rapid gains until ready for the market. It would 

 have been desirable in practice to have replaced the ear corn with 

 shelled corn during this period, which would have caused a greater 

 consumption of digestible nutrients above that required for main- 

 tenance. The results are, however, satisfactory, when the condi- 

 tions under which the experiment was conducted and the method 

 of feeding with light grain rations and without dry roughage of any 

 sort are considered. 



TABLE IV. Average Amount of Feed and Dry Matter Consumed 



Per Head Daily. 



Table IV shows that there was a gradual increase in both the 

 amount of ear corn and cottonseed meal fed to the cattle in Lot I, 

 but that an increase in concentrates was accompanied by a decrease 

 in the amount of silage used. The steers in this lot consumed a 

 greater amount of dry matter during the first eight weeks 

 of the feeding period than during the last ten weeks. The reverse 

 was true in Lot II where ear corn was added to the ration during 1 the 

 latter period. The total amount of feed used by each steer in Lot 



9 



